Drowsiness and microsleep at the wheel often result in dangerous situations or accidents. Present-day microsleep detectors output a warning if the driver exceeds a certain drowsiness threshold. The warning can be given optically, for example by way of a displayed coffee cup, or acoustically. This warning can be ignored by the driver, however.
Present-day drowsiness assistance systems estimate the sleep susceptibility of the driver only indirectly from his or her driving behavior. A driving profile is created from the steering behavior of the driver, and is compared with the current driving behavior over a longer journey. If there is no change in the steering angle for a long time and then an abrupt steering input, this is then recorded as a “deadband event” (DBE). If these deadband events accumulate, the driver is classified as drowsy.
Systems that can recognize the instantaneous degree of opening of the eyes (e.g., SmartEye, Facelab, etc.) based on data of a video camera are also known. Conventional systems that can recognize the identity of a person based on video signals are also available.
U.S. Patent Appl. Pub. No. US 2011/205350 A1 describes an eyes-open or eyes-closed detection device, an eye-opening-degree estimation device and a program.
U.S. Patent Appl. Pub. No. US 2013/0073885 A1 describes an eye-closure detection device, which used a structured illumination.